Former Omaha teacher appears in court on additional charges, could face 120 years in prison

Former Omaha teacher appears in court on additional charges, could face 120 years in prison
Gregory Sedlacek

A former Fontenelle Elementary School teacher sexually assaulted at least four students in a classroom during the school year, a prosecutor said in court Friday.

Gregory Sedlacek, who is now accused of sexually assaulting a total of six students, appeared in court Friday morning.

Sedlacek, 30, is charged with six counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child and one count of third-degree sexual assault of a child.

He is being held without bail. If convicted on all counts, he could face at least 120 years in prison.

Sedlacek was arrested Dec. 3 and charged with two first-degree counts involving a 7-year-old girl. Authorities have said Sedlacek digitally penetrated the girl, including at least one time on Nov. 19 on the school playground that was caught on security video.

Prosecutors filed five additional charges Thursday involving five other girls at Fontenelle.

In court Friday, a prosecutor said four girls told police that Sedlacek digitally penetrated them or touched their vaginas multiple times in the classroom this school year.

The initial victim told police that she saw Sedlacek touch four of the other students.

Sedlacek admitted to inappropriately touching all six students, authorities say.

Sedlacek worked at Fontenelle as a first-grade teacher since 2016. Before that, he was a paraprofessional at the Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where behavior like excessive hugging and tickling of students led to his firing. He also joined the Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis in 2013 but was dismissed the next year.

Authorities said Sedlacek gave them a list of girls he sexually assaulted. The Red Cloud superintendent has said no children from Red Cloud were on that list.

On Monday night, the Omaha Public Schools board voted to terminate Sedlacek. The action was approved without discussion.

Last week, OPS announced that Fontenelle Principal Eric Nelson had been placed on leave. OPS has declined to give more information because of the ongoing investigation.

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